remuer

French

Etymology

From re- +‎ muer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁə.mɥe/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

remuer

1. to move (lips, head, arms, etc.)
2. to wag (a tail)
   • 2016, Gaël Faye, Petit Pays [Small Country]:

     Le chien […] n’avait pas de queue, alors il remuait l’arrière-train pour signifier qu’il était content.

     The dog […] didn't have a tail, so it wagged its hindquarters to show it was happy.

3. to twitch, flick
4. to swing (one's arms)
5. to move, shift (an object)
6. to stir (a drink), stir up (sand etc.); to toss (salad), turn over (earth)
7. to move (emotionally)
8. (reflexive) to move (about)

Conjugation

Conjugation of remuer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	remuer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	remuant /ʁə.mɥɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		remué /ʁə.mɥe/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	remue /ʁə.my/	remues /ʁə.my/	remue /ʁə.my/	remuons /ʁə.mɥɔ̃/	remuez /ʁə.mɥe/	remuent /ʁə.my/
	imperfect	remuais /ʁə.mɥɛ/	remuais /ʁə.mɥɛ/	remuait /ʁə.mɥɛ/	remuions /ʁə.my.jɔ̃/	remuiez /ʁə.my.je/	remuaient /ʁə.mɥɛ/
	past historic2	remuai /ʁə.mɥe/	remuas /ʁə.mɥa/	remua /ʁə.mɥa/	remuâmes /ʁə.mɥam/	remuâtes /ʁə.mɥat/	remuèrent /ʁə.mɥɛʁ/
	future	remuerai /ʁə.my.ʁe/	remueras /ʁə.my.ʁa/	remuera /ʁə.my.ʁa/	remuerons /ʁə.my.ʁɔ̃/	remuerez /ʁə.my.ʁe/	remueront /ʁə.my.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	remuerais /ʁə.my.ʁɛ/	remuerais /ʁə.my.ʁɛ/	remuerait /ʁə.my.ʁɛ/	remuerions /ʁə.my.ʁjɔ̃/	remueriez /ʁə.my.ʁje/	remueraient /ʁə.my.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	remue /ʁə.my/	remues /ʁə.my/	remue /ʁə.my/	remuions /ʁə.my.jɔ̃/	remuiez /ʁə.my.je/	remuent /ʁə.my/
	imperfect2	remuasse /ʁə.mɥas/	remuasses /ʁə.mɥas/	remuât /ʁə.mɥa/	remuassions /ʁə.mɥa.sjɔ̃/	remuassiez /ʁə.mɥa.sje/	remuassent /ʁə.mɥas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	remue /ʁə.my/	—	remuons /ʁə.mɥɔ̃/	remuez /ʁə.mɥe/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• remuer ciel et terre
• remuer le couteau dans la plaie

Further reading

• “remuer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.